HARTFORD -- The state's mayors and first selectmen on Wednesday asked the Appropriations Committee for more state aid, including enhanced education funding, to help them battle inexorable rises in local property taxes.

Stamford Mayor David Martin, who is just about 100 days into his first term, predicted that under current levels of aid, his city will raise property taxes 4.5 percent this year, on top of last year's 3.4 percent hike.

"I'm asking you to be heroes to your towns, big and small," Martin told the committee that sets statewide spending levels. He asked the committee to endorse his idea of a one-time award of about $58 million from the current projected surplus of $500 million to help towns and cities cope with the unexpected expenditures from the tough winter.

Under Martin's proposal, towns and cities alike would receive $3,360 per mile of locally maintained road. He said the disparity of local incomes and tax bases varies widely throughout Connecticut's 169 municipalities.

In particular, Martin said Stamford and Norwalk both need a boost in their state school funding.

"The state of Connecticut is the most Balkanized state in the country," Martin said during a 2½-hour presentation from members of CCM and the Council of Small Towns.

"We are also an urban city surrounded by wealthy suburbs," Martin told lawmakers. "We like to think of ourselves as the economic engine of Fairfield County and the economic engine of the state. This engine, like any engine, needs gasoline to keep running."

Martin said he recently had meetings with officials from two major corporations interested in moving to the state, but they were wary of the troubles experienced in recent years with Metro-North.

"Before they get down to a final decision over whether `we're going to get the right tax breaks for our business,' they want to make certain that we have a transportation infrastructure that can serve them," Martin said.

He said if Interstate 95 could be expanded by one lane between New Haven and the New York state line, "and if we could get 30 minutes from New Haven to Stamford on Metro-North and 30 minutes from Stamford to Grand Central, or at least 125th Street ... we wouldn't nearly have the challenge of competing on tax breaks" with New York.

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, this year's president of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, echoed Martin's comments.

"We need to do a better job with Metro-North," Finch said. "We are going to take up to 30 years repairing the bridges along Metro-North, so what that means is instead of four tracks along Metro-North, you'll have two. That is not acceptable because money comes back by the bucketload on those trains every night. The rail is our future."

Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, the committee co-chairwoman, recalled growing up in Greenwich, where reliable train service was crucial to town residents.

"Even for the wealthy, and you know, Greenwich has three housing projects, but most people don't know that, but a lot of people could walk to the train station from affordable housing and get to jobs all along the corridor from Bridgeport to New York City," she said.

Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, the last speaker in the program, said taxpayers demand performance from their local governments.

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"The more of a burden we place on our residents, the less we have the ability to generate tax dollars," he said.